Venom
by thewoodsandthefox
Summary: The Center stated his punishment was to "live in a world he didn't understand." Bella Swan and the rest of the Venom crew have a different plan for him. BPOV-EPOV. Canon couples, OOC, and Rated M for a reason.
1. Prologue

**SM owns everything. **

**Read by several people, doesn't mean they caught everything. **

**Enjoy!**

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_I will go east and go west__  
__from whence came __the moon and the sun__  
__The moon and the sun will go__  
__And the young man__  
__With his reputation behind him_

_Theme from Harry's Game (translated) by Clannad_

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__**Prologue: Lock and Release **

_Date: September 21__st__, 2607(Earthborn Time)_

_Time: 17:34_

_Location: Aboard Empire Ship 17, Deep Space_

"Sir, his hand… The nitrogen must of-"

"Nurse, do not tell me how to do my job. Hand me the laser saw."

"Sorry, doctor. Laser saw."

"Alright, hold him steady… And… Good, almost finished. Throw the hand in the hazard bin. He won't be able to use it."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Is he ready to be awakened?"

"Now is the time. Raise the chamber."

* * *

_Date: 150 years earlier_

_Time: 21:01_

_Location: Somewhere in the Himalayas, Earth _

"Sir! They are flying in air support!" Kate shouts over the gun fire, pushing herself closer to the rocks for cover.

I curse loudly as I duck behind another boulder as a second round of fire comes towards us below. How many of them are there? "Damn it! How long until it gets here?!" I yell back, leaning around the corner and firing back.

"10 minutes, sir!"

"What?!" I glance at Kate wide eyed as she fervently types away on the computer on her lap.

"They have a secret base at the other end of the valley. Our satellites could have never detected it."

"Fuck!" I roar, firing another round into the dust they have created. I hear a few shrieks as some of them fall, but I can't celebrate now. "Call back up!"

This time, Alec answers. "From where? Camp 21 is dead."

"What?" I call over my shoulder.

"They disabled their suits, everyone is dead from exposure," Kate says, her voice grave.

But before I can respond, I hear a bang, followed by a soft grunt. A look over my shoulder reveals Kate, slouched over her laptop in her lap, a bullet wound the size of a golf ball in the back of her head. "They're coming up the hill!" I scream to the rest of my troop, scrambling to my feet and taking off into the rocks behind us. "Get back!"

There is a flurry of frantic dust as we all climb up the hillside, away from the fire. Alec and I are safely behind a rock when I see the first of them come up the hill.

They look like us. Yet there is something, maybe in the way they stand or stare, that is off about them. Maybe it is the near translucent skin, their pitch black eyes, or their oddly lengthy bodies. But one thing is for sure – they are not human. They are malicious killers.

One of them turns to check Kate's body. As his body turns I see the long, scaly tail. It's red. Fuck. It's a born and bred fighter.

It grunts as it looks at Kate's lifeless body, kicking her over so he can see the laptop. Obviously, nothing of interest is displayed on screen as he hurls it over the cliff with a laugh. Nobody moves, but I breathe an order to stay still into the radio in my helmet just in case someone tries to play hero. The last thing we could use right now is a hero.

The thing waits for the rest of his mates to join him on the landing before he goes any further.

Originals. That's what they are. At least, that is what they call themselves. They first landed on Earth five years ago, spewing some nonsense about how they were one of the first species to leave the void of the Universe and since then it has been their job to monitor those who are also self-aware throughout the universe.

They wanted us to join what they called "The Formidable." It was an alliance of several species across the universe, whose names I couldn't pronounce when they first spoke of them. Apparently, they had been monitoring humans for quite some time. Recently, however, we had reached the level of technological and intellectual sufficiency needed to join their alliance, so they came for us.

At first, several countries submitted to their request. They gave up their government to them, their military, their people. Even the United States bent their knee to them. They came in huge ships, like black claws that grasped the Earth as they landed. Their men, if you want to call them that, wielded guns we had never seen, that only responded to their touch.

But some of us refused to submit to their demands. We rallied against them, men and women from everywhere joining our ranks, learning the ways of combat. Now here we were five years later, with possibly only 50 men left and me, their leader sworn to protect them.

"Edward," Alec whispers from my side. "If we die…"

"We are not dying. Not today, Alec."

"Edward…" he warns, adjusting the holster of his gun so he can lay it over the rock like I am. "There is 30 of us. 3,000 of them. We are the last unit… There is no way we are making it out alive."

I glance over my shoulder at my marines, dotted across the rocky landscape above me. Their hands are shaking, but they have their guns pointed towards the enemy, waiting for my call. He's right. We are the last of them all.

I look back down at the aliens below us. Most of them are there speaking in tongues, clicks and guttural sounds that come from deep in their throat. Even in the blistering wind, it makes my skin boil and crawl. I sense Alec shuddering next to me. We don't move.

Finally, one of them with a gold tail – a captain – moves towards Kate's limp body. Alec stops breathing next to me. The alien holds up her arms, effectively hoisting her off the ground and waves her around, a Cheshire grin sprawled on its pale face.

"Cullen!" it calls into the rocks, his voice echoing off the mountainscape. "I'll make this very easy for you!"

I'm frozen in spot. I know he can't see me, but my limbs won't work. His chest is perfectly open. I could kill him, I know I could. _Just one pull of the trigger. _Yet, I can't move. All I can focus on is Kate's limp body dangling from his hand, dripping with blood.

"Either you reveal yourself," he growls, his voice barely audible above the howl's wind. "Or every single member of your platoon ends up looking like her."

I can't tell if he is bluffing or not. I have never been able to tell if they were lying or not from the minute they landed outside of D.C..

"Five…" he begins.

I look over at Alec, but his eyes are trained on Kate's lifeless body, his wife's lifeless body.

"Four!"

Over my shoulder, I can see every single one of my men and women staring back at me, their eyes wide. They know what this moment is. It is the moment I decide the fate for Earth.

"Isn't this what humans do? They count down to their children when they are angry with them. Three, Cullen!"

If I reveal myself, they will let humans join the Formidable peacefully. There will be a spot on their so-called Council for us. There will be planets waiting for us to colonize. But we will no answer to ourselves anymore at the end of the day. We will answer to them.

"Two…"

His troops raise their guns and point them at the cliff side. If I don't step out, they will pillage Earth. I remember the announcement as clear as day. "Stand down or we will destroy all of you. It is very simple."

"On–"

"I'm here! I'm right here," I grit out, pulling myself to my feet. Suddenly, my suit feels like thousands of pounds. My gun feels empty, left of all its charge. I hear Alec shuffle off into the darkness behind me.

"Edward Cullen." The captain stalks towards me, effortlessly pulling himself up the cliff side towards me. I try not to tremble, but my knees won't listen to me. I am stuck in my spot.

As soon as he is in front of me, I feel like I am seeing an Original for the first time. Despite their height and bleak eyes, they look almost human. Except I see his gold tail whipping back and forth behind him as he snarls in front of me, and he looks like a hungry mountain lion deprived of its prey.

He rips the helmet off my head and I choke loudly, the thin mountain air immediately affecting me. It does not deter him, for he grabs a hand full of my hair and pulls me towards his face, leaning down so we are eye to eye. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to kill you, Cullen? How easy it would be for me to simply… snap… your… neck?"

My only response is a handful of blood coughed at his feet.

"You don't do you?" he continues. "But I won't do it, because there is something much worse in store for you, my dear captain."

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**A/N: And there you have it. We will pick up from... well, 2607. From here on out we will be seeing it from EPOV and BPOV. Don't worry. **

**We are predicting about a 30-some chapter long story, posting once a week. Maybe even longer if I'm feeling devious, but we will be keeping it steady. I hope you join us for the ride!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews and for waiting! Three versions of this chapter were written - two in EPOV and one in BPOV. So, after some thought, we scrapped one of the EPOVs and kept the other two! So here is BPOV's. Tomorrow, I will post EPOV. It's my little treat after you guys patiently waited for so long! **

**I have bit more of the story sketched out, so we can see a more consistent schedule now! Thanks so much for the love. You guys rock.**

**As usual, this baby was preread, but I am always cleaning up chapters. And SM owns the characters, I just make everything she does cooler.**

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_Sometimes I feel I am permafrost  
Alone in the tundra and really lost  
And to think this is how I really feel  
Like the ground is melting and nothing is real  
Permafrost by Laurena Segura_

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**Chapter 1: The Girl With Two Names**

_Date: September 22nd__, 2607 (Earthborn Time)_

_Time: 09:34_

_Location: Aboard Ship Venom, Fang Class_

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I call myself Isabella Swan. Sometimes Bella.

My real name is harsh and violent on the tongue. It does not roll easily off the tongue and people choke on it, even me. My name gets caught right behind everyone's teeth, held back my insecurity and the instinct for self-preservation.

I think my parents gave me this name to strangle me.

But Bella rolls of the tongue nice enough. For most species, even if English isn't their first language, they can form their lips around it easy enough.

Lately, it has become easier and easier for me to spit it out too. That means there are good times ahead of us.

"Bella," Rose's voice crackles through the intercom from the cargo bay into the control room. "How close are we?"

I look over at Emmett, who is lounging in his co-pilot chair behind me, his legs propped up against the command table. He looks at me and I jerk my chin towards the radio, signaling him to respond.

He scrambles into sitting position and yanks the radio off the wall. "Looks like 10 minutes until we dock, baby. Everything secured?"

"You bet your sweet ass it is!" Rose's response is instant and I can hear the sound of laughter behind her.

Emmett smirks and holds down the button to say something dirty and totally inappropriate back, but I lurch out of my seat and slap the radio out of his hand, hanging it back up on the wall.

Emmett still laughs, much to my chagrin. "Oh right. Sorry, cap. I forgot you need a few drinks in you before you like the dirty talk."

All I can do is scoff and roll my eyes at him, because he's right. I hate it when Emmett is right. He's still giggling when I pull back the thrusters, preparing the ship for landing.

Hastily, I pull my headset over my head and speak into the mic. "We are preparing to land in five, please secure all belongings and return to your cabins."

I wait until the banging and clanging calms down below me, before I flip the switch and turn autopilot off. I feel the power shutter through the engine, up into the steering, and finally though my hands. I'm in control now. Behind me, Emmett readies the navigation system.

Amusing myself, I push the controls as far as they can go forward, pushing the ship into a nosedive towards Derelict's surface. Emmett laughs loudly from behind me and I can't help but smile with him. This is what is like to be alive.

"Connection established with port, captain."

"Derelict Port, this Captain Isabella of the Ship Venom, requesting permission to land," I say into the headset.

There is a few seconds of delay, before a flustered voice answers me. "Uh… Captain Isabella, this is Derelict Port. Permission granted. Port…" his voice becomes a flustered whisper, "what port did you say again? Oh! Port 17 is yours, captain."

This time I truly laugh. I love a good, panicked newbie as much as the next guy.

Emmett displays a hologram of our landing coordinates in front of me and I nod, mostly to myself. If our scanning devices are correct, we are alone in our docking area. Derelict isn't very busy during its winter season. That's why we are here. When merchants are not out to play, thieves are.

I flip a few switches and I hear the engine rotate themselves into landing position, a heavy grinding sound fills the cabins. Damn, this ship is old.

A beep in my right ear notifies me we are close to docking point, so I pull back as fast as I can and the ship significantly slows with a large groan. A few more seconds of absolute silence follow, before the delicate clank of our ship falling into the dock confirms we have landed safely.

I raise my right hand, notifying Emmett that is safe to turn the ship's systems off. In complete synchronization, we hit a series of buttons, on his control panel and mine, and the ship stops buzzing with life.

I pull my headset off and shake the stray hairs back into place with my hands. "Welcome to Derelict, Venom crew."

The sound of cheering below my feet answers me. Emmett and I unbuckle and climb down from the cockpit. Emmett practically runs down to the cargo bay, but I take my sweet time, enjoying the feeling of glory I get every time I land.

Everyone else seems to have the same idea, for as we arrive from above, I see Rose, Jasper and Alice shuffling into the room with a look of glee.

"Looks like everything is intact," I mumble to myself, assessing the boxes for damage.

Emmett on the other hand, catches a flying Rosalie into this arms and swirls her around in a giant bear hug. _Ugh, affection. _

"Great landing, baby!" Rose cheers, kissing his face all over.

I make a face of disgust at Jasper, who laughs loudly – a full belly, throw your head back laugh.

"Like he did any work, Rose," I chide, sitting down on the box in front of the room.

Rose rolls her eyes as Emmett sets her down. I don't say anything about the eye roll, even though it is my thing. Emmett still looks damn proud of himself anyway. Why the hell did I choose this lug to be my co-captain, again?

I look over my crew. There's Rose, with her long legs and long golden hair, her face covered in grease from the engine room. Then there is Jasper with his shaggy sandy hair and caring, but tired blue eyes. His protective arms are wrapped around his wife, Alice, who is leaning into his side with her eyes closed. She is small, tinier then me, and it looks like she just tried to give herself a haircut by the way her thin black hair was spiked all over the place.

Rose is our mechanic and Emmett is our copilot. They came as sort of package deal. I originally wanted to hire Emmett as a mercenary, but he continued to impress me with his knowledge of flying and when he showed me his Fleet Badge, I knew he was the guy to sit behind me whenever I flew Venom.

Jasper and Alice where a package too, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, Jasper is a fantastic and talented medic to have on hand, but Alice makes me uneasy. And that's saying not saying much.

Jasper doesn't say much about her and she doesn't talk too much of the crew. Besides, all she ever does is trail behind Jasper wherever he goes like some sort of lost puppy. Something about her is off, that's for sure, but Jasper promised to take minimal pay if I didn't ask any questions and I agreed.

Besides, I can't complain much because Alice is a great people person. Talking to people, or interacting with them for that matter, is not my strong suit. Alice however, seems to be able to tap into the most sensitive emotions of people and play with them, making them do nearly whatever she wanted.

I guess, at the end of the day, I hired each and every one of them because they were damn good at their jobs. Plus, they don't cost me that much.

I clap once and they snap to attention. "Alright, here are our jobs for the day.

"Rose, Emmett, and I are going to take Mr. M's cargo too him. Before we go, Emmett clean and load the guns for us," I say, pointing towards the weapons room behind us.

Emmett and Rose nod dutifully. "Is that all?" Rose asks.

I cock my head to the side, contemplating. "No," I say finally. Rose's eyebrows shoot into her hair. "We are on Derelict for more than just pay. In fact, Alice I have a job for you."

Alice's gold eyes pop open and she jumps away from Jasper, staring at me in fright.

"Bella…" Jasper warns.

I snap my fingers at him. "Captain," I correct him. "And don't worry, Mr. Husbando. You can help too, if you feel so inclined."

His shoulders relax at that, but Alice is still watching me like I'm the tiger and she's the pray. "What is it then?" she finally asks in that singsong voice of hers.

"I need you to find us a mercenary."

"What?" Rose screeches. "A merc? What about Em and I?"

I roll my eyes. Rose, always the drama queen. "In case you look at your paycheck, Rose, you can see I pay you to be a mechanic. You know, to fix the ship?" She glares at me. "I pay Emmett to help me pilot and monitor the ship while I'm gone. That means if we actually got into any trouble–which we do quite often, in case you've noticed–you have jobs that don't always guarantee you can fight. I need a guy dedicated to the fight.

"And Alice, that's who I need you to find," I finish, waving my hand to the cargo door behind us. Rose pouts, but before she can whine anymore, Emmett drags her off to the weapon's rack to prepare for the delivery.

"Jasper is actually needed to monitor the ship while I'm out so Alice, you can just wonder around out front for someone. I need an English speaker, just in case our translators go down in a fight."

Alice's eyes light up as if I had just handed her the best cake in the world. A huge smile spreads across her face. "Oh Bella," I flinch, but don't correct her. "I know the best person for the job!"

I roll my eyes and hop off my pedestal of boxes. She is always saying creepy shit like that, but I've learned to ignore her.

Emmett, Rose, and I prepared the delivery and stack all the important boxes onto a transportation tray. Rose activates it and it lifts off the ground hesitantly, before steadying itself. She clips the controls onto her belt, waiting for my next command.

I nod once at the boxes, before clipping my gun to my belt and pushing the last knife into my boot. Even if we do business for Mr. M all the time, it is better to be safe than sorry. As a thief, it is easy to figure out who is trustworthy and who isn't. And trust me, Mr. M isn't.

"Take could care of Venom for me while I'm out Jasper!" I call.

"Will do, captain!"

I signal for Emmett and Rose to follow me and we walk down the open cargo door and out into the desert's port. People are bustling about, carrying their items back and forth to other ships.

We pass Alice and I remind her we are looking for an English speaker, but she doesn't seem to notice me with her gold eyes fixed on the horizon, mumbling, "Green eyes, green eyes, green eyes, green eyes…."

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**A/N: Tomorrow, I promise you little lovelies that Spaceward and Bella will meet. Maybe they'll make out. Who knows. **

**As you may have noticed, there is a few odd terms in here, so her is a little glossary if you need some refreshing. I'll post it at the beginning of chapters from here on out. **

_Venom: _The name of Bella's ship. Venom is an old Fang Class ship that they don't make them anymore. Shit, they're barely legal to fly. **  
**

_Fang Class: _An older type of cargo ship. No longer made It has head, where the pilot and copilot sit, a huge cargo bay area in the middle, and two engines on either side of its wings. Due to safety issues, many ports don't allow them to land.

_Mercenary: _Just in case nobody has heard this term before, a merc is typically a professional solider that is hired to serve... well, whoever pays them the most. You'll hear Bella call them "hired guns" too, later.

_Derelict: (Da-air-a-lect) _A desert planet, ravaged by poverty and drought, located in Southmore Galaxy. Colonized by humans.

**If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them! Until tomorrow!**


	3. Chapter 2

**I hope your first month of the new year was great! If not, here is Spaceward waking up and meeting Bella for the first time to cheer you up. **

**This was preread. And of course, SM has right to these characters, I just give them guns.**

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_Show me moonlight on the sunrise  
__I've seen so many planets dancing  
__I've seen too many people hiding  
__Show me sunset and I won't forget  
__That I'm one of two planets dancing_

_Two Planets by Bat for Lashes_

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**Chapter 2: A Man Without a Hand**

_Date: September 21st, 2607 (Earthborn Time)_

_Time: 21:07_

_Location: Aboard Empire Ship 17, Nearing Port_

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After 150 years of sleeping, I spend the first 30 minutes of complete consciousness puking into a clear bowl.

The nurse to my left tells me, in her crazy accent I don't recognize, that it is just my body adjusting to all the trauma and shock and blah, blah, blah. I can't listen to what she is saying, because I am busy puking the nothing my stomach contained for the past 150 years.

After a few more horrid coughs, no more bile leaves me. The nurse awkwardly pats my back and takes the bowl from me, dumping the contents down a hole in the wall. As she walks away I eye her warily, only to find no tail following behind her. She's a human. I sigh in relief.

She starts rising the bowl in a sink that juts out of the white wall. As I study her, I realize she must be the nurse I heard while I was waking up.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

_ White light. Cold hands. High voices. _

_ I can't open my eyes, but there is someone poking and prodding at my left side. All I can feel is a small amount of pressure here and there. Everything else is simply numb, as if I am floating through deep space, suspended above deep nothingness. _

_Static consumes my hearing, until a voice to my left breaks through the white noise. "I think I have all of his nerves," the voice says, and it hurts my head. I think it is a male, but everything is distorted, as if he is speaking through a megaphone._

_ "I sure hope so doctor," says someone too my left. A female? I don't recognize the accent. "He is going to wake up anytime." _

_ There is a huff, as if the man is wishing to reprimand her, but he refrains. Instead, I hear the passing of something above me, as she hands something to the man on my left. It clanks loudly like metal. _

_Then the sound of something being turned on goes off close to my ear in a loud beep that causes me to flinch. "The brain-computer interface is now turned on," the man says._

"_His sensory systems are returning," the woman mutters. _

_What? I want to call out to her, and ask her what she is talking about, but my eyelids feel like they a sewed shut. Before I can think of any more questions, fire is shooting up my arm into my shoulder, up my neck and all the way to the place where the sound was heard above my ear. _

_I want to jerk away from the burning sensation, but I can't seem to move. It keeps boiling under my skin, as if venom is invading my veins. _

_Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep beepbeep._

"_Doctor…?!" the woman whispers, I can hear her moving above me, but I can't tell where exactly she is with all the pain in my head and arm._

"_No, this is normal. His body is calibrating."_

_Calibrating? I make more of an effort to pull away from the pain and this time I feel my body inch. Just a bit to the right, but for a brief moment the pain is forgotten. _

"_He isn't even full conscious and he is moving. Interesting," the man murmurs. I hear him collecting papers. "He is yours, nurse. Remember your orders." He takes a few more steps, but I hear him turn back once more. "Keep in mind he is a convicted criminal."_

Remembering, I glance down at my left arm where I felt the pain earlier. I'm greeted with the sigh of a black mechanical hand in the socket of my left wrist, hanging limply like my right hand. It looks just like it too, with the same curves and oddly long fingers, but each metallic, black joint is connected with an abundance of tiny multicolored wires. I feel bile rise in my throat again and the heart monitor begins to speed up.

Suddenly, the nurse is at my side again, holding my left arm tightly. "Calm down, Mr. Cullen. The only causality of the cryopreservation appears to be your left hand, thankfully."

My mouth goes dry. I can't respond to her. All I notice is my own blood across her white scrubs. Everything is white. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, her scrubs, the chair…

"It's alright, Mr. Cullen. It will perform as a normal hand. In fact," she says, pushing a few buttons on the key pad connected to the chair I'm sitting on, "when it fully calibrates, it will look just like your other hand. We just have to turn on the skin graph feature."

She watches me gape like a fish and smiles gently, with a look of sadness in her eyes, patting my arm. "I know you only just woke up and probably all you can think about are your biological needs right now, Mr. Cullen, but I urge you to feel thankful for this hand. The Center did not have to grant you a new left hand when the doctor submitted your report, but they let us augment you in the end."

Finally, I can feel my voice bubbling up over my teeth, but instead I cough up a large sum of blood onto my shirt. I can feel it dribble down my chin, but all the nurse does is frown at me. "I will send for some fresh clothes. In the meantime, I want you tell me what you remember."

I ignore her, as I look around the room, feeling my energy come back to me. "Where am I?"

"Empire Ship 17." Her answer is automatic and rehearsed.

I don't recognize the ship name. It goes in one ear and falls out the other, without registering with anything in my memory. I had never heard of the name Empire Ship 17 in all my years as a marine or as… a leader.

The sound of rapid fire of gunshots comes back to me for a brief second causing me to jump. Next, the face of an Original close to mine fills my vision, its black eyes full of hatred and disgust.

…_because there is something much worse in store for you, my dear captain._

My eyes snap towards the nurse again, panic filling me. "What day is it?"

She blinks once, unfazed by my questions. "Why, it's September 21st, 2607, Mr. Cullen. Don't you remember Cullen, it is…."

"…150 years after my loss," I finish with her, looking down at my left hand again. The hand that once held a gun.

"Do you remember your sentence, Mr. Cullen?" The nurse asks, softer this time.

I shake my head, feeling the same bile rise in my throat again.

"To live in a world you don't understand," the nurse says with a distant sadness in her eye.

I nod slowly, flexing my new hand and feeling the foreign twitch above ear again. A soft beep comes from the keypad in front of the nurse. "Oh! It's calibrated." She picks up my hand and turns it over so I can see the underside of my wrist. She points to a small green button close to joint of my thumb. "This can only be activated with your touch, Mr. Cullen."

The strap across my chest slowly slides away, allowing me to press the button with my opposite hand. The metal of the hand turns completely white, before a faint sheen covers it like a veil of mist, until it fades and reveals perfect skin across it, as if it had never left. Hesitantly I run my fringes across my knuckles, only to feel the same callouses I felt 150 years ago.

The nurse smiles at her handy work. "Now that this is settled, I will have a maid bring in some clean clothes for you. After that, Ambassador Aro and his men will come escort you onto Derelict."

She bows awkwardly and turns to walk away, but I call out to her. "Wait! What's your name? I never got it."

The same distant sadness returns to her blue eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore, but I am an Earthborn like you. I sincerely hope your new life the best, Mr. Cullen. Goodbye." She does the same half bow again and disappears through a pair of automatic doors on the other side of the room.

A few minutes later, a smaller woman enters the chamber with a pair of clothes in her hands. Quickly, without making eye contact, she undoes the rest of my straps across my legs and hands me the clothes with the same bow the nurse preformed. I watch her quizzically as she scampers out, while taking off my soiled shirt.

Seeing as the room is simply an empty white box, I find no better place to throw old clothes than on the floor. I regard as an act of defiance to whoever has stuck me aboard this ship.

The clothes the maid brought me fit perfectly. One black thermal shirt and some cargo pants. I am without shoes, but I quickly spot a pair next to my chair on the floor. Hesitantly, I touch my toes to the floor, but the minute my full weight sets on my feet, I collapse.

"Careful, captain. Your legs need a chance to remember their place," a voice hisses from the doors.

I look up to see an Original standing at the door, his long black hair tied back, with a royal blue tail whipping mischievously behind him. Two smaller men flank him, one human and one Original, watching me with interest.

He strides towards me, stopping when his feet are right under my nose. He chuckles and asks, "I trust the rest of your recovery went well, Captain Cullen?"

His use of that name makes me feel nauseous, but all I can do is growl at him from my spot on the floor like an angry dog.

He scoffs at my attempt at intimidation and gets right down to work. "I'm Aro, the Head Ambassador of The Center. I will be seeing to your drop off at Derelict." Feeling is slowly returning to my legs, so I sit up and begin to pull on the tennis shoes next to me. "We will be dropping you off at the main ship port."

I stare up at him and he looks right back at me with those menacing black eyes, his tail flicking back and forth like an angry cat. I've never seen a blue tail… I wonder what it means. Red for solider. Gold for leader...

"What is Derelict? A planet?" I ask.

The laugh Aro barks out is harsh and condescending, causing his two servants next to him to jump. "Humans were naïve enough to assume they were alone in the Universe. Life exists on many different planets, Captain Cullen, _many _different planets."

I swallow loudly, trying not to focus on the malice in his voice. "Then why Derelict?"

Aro looks at me with a face of contemplation. "It's poor in every sense of the word," he says, and then a wicked smile overcomes him. "Just like you."

I cringe at the words and pull myself to my feet. My legs are feel like they are without any bone to support them and when I try to take a step forward, my knee gives out and I drop again. One of the other Originals moves to help me, but Aro sticks a manicured hand out and demands something in that same guttural language 150 years ago that I hate so much. The kid steps back and looks at the ground, ashamed.

Slowly, with limp arms, I struggle to my feet. When I am finally standing in front of Aro, he is smirking at me. "You were described to me as a man of stature, Captain Cullen. Now, I barely see a man at all."

I bite my tongue. Not to stop words, but the bile I feel coming up my throat for standing the first time.

Aro explains to me that he will return at 9 tomorrow morning to escort me off the ship. Until then, he recommended I get as much sleep as possible. He didn't know how much sleeping I would be doing after I got off the ship.

It took me a few minutes to find a position on the white chair that didn't make me sick. After an hour of laying in a curled up ball, a maid came in with a blanket and pillow. Another hour and the lights shut off. The room was completely pitch black. It took another hours for sleep to overcome me.

When it finally did, I had nightmares. Endless nightmares of men running across fields. Dreams of blood splattered over everything. Women screaming. People slipping through my fingers.

Aro shook me awake from a dream of me falling off a cliff. I shot up in the chair, gasping for air. He paid no attention to my sweaty forehead or panting. Instead, he demanded me to stand and follow him.

I stumble behind him through a labyrinth of halls, which are lined by men and women, human and Original watching me. Finally, we stopped at a large black door. Aro pressed is hand to scanner next to it and after a few seconds of silence, a beep sounded and the doors slid open.

A rush of hot hair filled the hall with dust swirling about. I coughed loudly, shielding my eyes from the sun. Aro steps out into the white light, glancing behind him to see if I would follow. By now, guards had arranged themselves behind me, preventing my escape. The only way out was forward.

Hesitantly, I step out into the sun. This world… it smells of salt. The first thing I notice is the pink sky, accent by two white orbs, floating neatly next each other in the sky. Two suns… Briefly, I wonder how far away from the Milky Way Galaxy we are.

Out of the corner of my eye, Aro points at something. I follow his long finger to a gathering of people and ships ahead of us. "That is Derelict's port," he says with hint of disgust, as if he can't believe he is standing in the near vicinity of poor people. "You can go that way if you wish. Or not. After this is not my job to tell you what to do."

With that he turns and steps back into the Empire Ship, Ship 17, and I hear the doors behind me close. I don't look back though, only forward.

The crowd at the port is not just filled with humans and Originals. I remember, for just a fleeting moment, of Originals talking of the other species that joined the Formidable long ago. Ahead of me, these must be who they are.

The port is surrounded by a half circle of dirty, old ships. They look nothing like the Empire ship I had just stepped off. None of them have the sleek, thin curves of the government ship. Instead, they are rusted, creaking gentle in the dry breeze that rolls across the market. I see a few people tending to their ships with makeshift tools, sweating in the harsh sunlight.

What catches my eye are the large grey creatures, resting on the feet and knuckles in the center of the port. Huge shoulders and large biceps accent the front of their bodies, while their legs look skinny and weak, even unused. Their faces are scrunched and ravaged with scars, their eyes black with probing red iris. As they talk among themselves, in deep, low voices, I watch their fangs flash in the sunlight. I realize, I can't understand what they are saying. It just, low, baritone garbage to my ears.

I stumble away from their group in horror, only to walk further into the crowd. Something smacks into my leg and with a high pitched squeak. I look down to see a standing kimono dragon-like being, standing on two legs, shaking its claws and baring its three rows of teeth at me. It is saying something, but it is gibberish to my ears, so I hold my hands up in defeat and shuffle away.

This time I am careful to watch where I am walking. Throughout the port, which also seems to double as an overcrowded market, there are humans and hundreds of those two strange creatures everywhere.

I can hardly understand a word anyone is saying. Sometimes, my ears will catch a brief string of English, but when I turn to see who is there, I am created with lizards and large, gray burly creatures.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" A voice calls over the rest. English! I understand English!

I turn towards the small voice, only to see a short black haired girl hurling towards me. She reaches me and envelops me in a grand hug. I wonder if this a long lost future cousin of mine.

The girl looks at me with great, bright golden eyes, her black hair matted with dust. "You're who I have been looking for!"

"And you are…?" I ask, unlocking myself from her tight grip around my waist.

"Alice Whitlock!" she announces, throwing her hands in the air. I stare at her dumbly, the name foreign to me. "And you are my new mercenary!"

"I'm your merc?" I question, pushing her away. "I'm sorry, you must have me confused with the wrong guy…"

"No, I don't. You're Edward Cullen and you have green eyes. You are who I have been looking for," she states indigently, crossing her arms across her chest.

"How do you know my name?"

"I just do."

"And I'm your mercenary…?" I deadpan, unconvinced about the tiny girl in front of me.

"You will be after captain hires you."

"Captain who?"

She blinks a few times as if she is trying to remember. "Captain Swan."

"I've never heard of her," I say, dumbstruck. What is this girl going on about? Do I even look like mercenary material? I've been asleep for 150 years!

"That's okay. You just need to outfit yourself with a few essentials before I bring you to captain."

"I have no money," I say lamely, hanging me head. I am beginning to sense there is so no way this Alice girl is going to let me back out of this deal.

"Oh. Then here," she says, handing me a small leather sack. It jingles as it hits my palm. Gold coins. "Go buy a good gun."

I realize that then and there, I have no idea what a good gun is anymore. It has been a 150 years since I had even held a gun. In my sleep, humans had gained the ability to fly across galaxies. Hell maybe they had even learned how to live forever. I had no idea what constituted as a weapon anymore.

I wasn't going to let Alice Whitlock know that, though. She was offering me a job. She was offering me money and possibly a way off this planet. There was no chance in hell I was spending the rest of my life on a desert planet. Hot climates were never my thing.

But I had to be honest about one thing. "Alice, I have no idea what any of these people are saying."

"What? Is your translator broken?" she asks, turning me to the side to inspect my face.

"My what?" I ask, as she gently probes my ear with my finger.

"Huh… You don't have one. Well, give me back my money and I will go get you one. And a gun."

I hold her money back out to her and she snatches out of my hand and takes off into the crowd. I run after her like toddler who has just learned how to walk. When I spot her, she is standing at a cart filled with a myriad of electronics. One of those big burly creatures is talking to her. She seems to understand him perfectly.

Finally, she drops a few gold coins into a jar at the edge of the cart a picks up a small pager looking device and a shiny, black fun. She trots back over to me and hands me both of them.

"Clip the scanner onto your pants," she says, handing me the pager. Then she hands me a small ear piece. "Put this in your ear. It's second hand, but it will work."

The minute I slide the tiny piece of metal into my ear, the jumble of voices around me suddenly becomes perfectly clear. Everyone is now talking in English. Alice smiles brightly at me as my face lights up. Next she hands me the gun.

The gun is new, or at least it looks new, but it slides into my new left hand like an old time friend. My fingers relax around the grip frame, allowing myself for a brief moment to forget that my left is completely metal.

"Alice? What are you doing buying boys things? You're married!"

Alice jumps behind me and peeks around my arm. Ahead of us I see a blonde and huge, buff man stalking towards us.

"Rose," Alice mumbles, her voice laced with a heavy sense of relief. "This is our new mercenary, Edward Cullen."

"Edward Cullen, huh?" The blonde says, grasping my outstretched hand and shaking it violently. "Nice to meet ya."

The tall man nods vigorously in agreement. "Emmett," he says, shaking my hand with equal ferocity.

Suddenly, between them appears a petite brunette. My hand slips out of Emmett's as I stare at her. Her glowing brown eyes are hooded, with a hint of boredom to them as she assesses me. She gives me a once over, licking her light pink lips and then biting down on her bottom one harshly. _Fuck. Who is this girl?_

"Edward Cullen," Alice says shyly, the relief vanishing from her voice, "this is Captain Swan."

"Cullen," the way the Swan says my name, as if she is testing it on her lips, makes me shiver. "How good are you in chaos Cullen?"

"I've been in the battle lines a few time," I say, looking down at the gun in my left hand.

"So is this our hired gun, Alice?"

Alice grasps my shirt, almost as if she is afraid, and nods.

"Looks like the freak likes you, Cullen," she says. Shocked, I open my mouth to dismiss her freak comment, but instead Swan extends her arm and shows a candy bar to Alice. "I bought you chocolate."

Alice giggles behind me and comes out of hiding, delicately taking the chocolate out of her captain's hand. "Thanks, Bella."

_Bella. Her name is Bella. As in beautiful. _Bella smiles softly, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. She cringes at her choice of name, but whispers, "no problem," anyway and ruffles Alice's hair.

"Come on guys. Jasper is waiting for us."

As she begins to walk away, all I can do is watch her fine ass.

* * *

**A/N: So, what are your theories? **

**Will Edward and Captain Swan get along? What's up with Alice? And how will Edward adjust to be under someone else's command in a whole new world? And what the hell are those creatures?**

_Venom: _The name of Bella's ship. **  
**

_Fang Class: _An older type of cargo ship that is no longer made. It has head, where the pilot and copilot sit, which extends into a cargo bay like belly, and two engines on either side of its wings. Due to safety issues, many ports don't allow them to land.

_Mercenary: _Just in case nobody has heard this term before, a merc is typically a professional solider that is hired to serve... well, whoever pays them the most. You'll hear Bella call them "hired guns" too, later.

_Derelict: (Da-air-a-lect) _A desert planet, ravaged by poverty and drought, located in Southmore Galaxy. Colonized by humans.

**Until next Thursday! Thanks for the reviews!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Alright, here it is! It's starting to be a bit of a bumpy ride, but I think if Cullen and Captain Swan help each other, they'll persevere. But, y'know, they rarely listen to me, those little shits.**

**A little refresher if you need it: Edward just got his new left hand and was hired by Bella to work on her ship, Venom, as the knew hired gun. Now she is waiting on their next back-ally job to come through. And as always, a little glossary of terms is at the bottom of every chapter!**

**P.S. I'm a bit embarrassed about my choice of chapter song, but it fits as a great warning to Bella as she starts her next job. **

* * *

_Forfeit the game before somebody else  
takes you out of the frame  
puts your name to shame  
Cover up your face  
you can't run the race  
the pace is too fast  
you just won't last_

_.Athrty by Linkin Park (feat. Jay Gordon of Orgy)_

* * *

**Chapter 3: A No-Man's Job**

_Date: September 24__th__, 2607_

_Time: 23:12 _

_Location: Aboard Venom, Derelict Port_

* * *

I have been hiding. Somewhere, in the same hallway as my room, Edward Cullen is laying on his bed like me, staring up at the dirty ceiling. Under my orders, Rose told him that he needed to stay out of sight tonight. Of course, he argued, saying something about how it was dangerous to go into a drop-off without defense.

Rose was quick to respond. She covered her ass well enough, telling him we had done jobs for Rabbit before. He would be no threat to us now, no matter how many henchmen he brought along with the supplies.

Which was true. We had worked for Rabbit before. Several times in fact. I guess our one hundred percent completion rate of his jobs had paid off, because tonight was the night of our biggest job yet.

Venom had stayed stationed in the Derelict Port under his orders, with a promise of a drop-off at midnight, forty five minutes from now. He wouldn't tell me what he was passing over to us, only that it was _large _and _important_. After a few more minutes of my prodding, he even used the word _priceless _to describe the cargo.

Whatever. The only thing I heard in the whole conversation was the amount of money he was willing to pay for getting this job done without any trouble.

Below me, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were moving around the cargo bay so his supposedly huge item could be stored correctly. Rose was rewiring the system for long distance travel. Prior, we had been hoping from inhabited planet to inhabited planet, but Rabbit told us the delivery point would be a few galaxies over, and so preparations were being made.

"Cap'n," Emmett's voice crackles over the intercom. Damn things need to be fixed. "I've got movement on the starboard side. Looks like Rabbit and his men."

Jumping out of bed, I press the intercom by the door. "I'm coming down now."

I pull on pants and a coat, making sure it drapes all the way down to my knees. On my desk, sits my red shot gun. Checking to see that is fully calibrated – which it is – I stuff it in the waistline of my pants, making sure my shirt is loose enough not to give its hiding spot away.

Rabbit's name is a good indicator of how he runs business. He is nervous as fuck. At the slightest bit of disturbance, he will flee without looking bakck. Anyone holding guns besides his men are a threat. But I liked to be better safe than sorry. If that meant shoving a gun down my pants, then so be it.

Being chronically nervous as he is, Rabbit was instantly suspicious of anyone he didn't know lounging about. That was another reason we had tucked Edward away. If Rabbit saw a new crew member, our trust would have to be rebuilt. God knows we didn't have time for that. Not when a job offered this much money.

Outside, the hallway was empty. Edward's door was closed and silent.

The noise had died down in the cargo bay too, as everyone took their standard drop off positions. Emmett and Rose on the stairs. Jasper next to me in the bay. Alice hidden somewhere out of sight.

With a flick of switch, the doors begin to lower with a loud screeching sound of metal grinding on metal.

Tonight, Rabbit is flanked by five burly, bloody men, each armed with rifles, growling at us with their rotten teeth at us as the light from inside the cargo bay flooded the outside.

I briefly wonder if Edward could take them down with a single shot, but dismiss the thought as soon as it appears. I don't have time to think about Cullen. Not now. It's too dangerous to be distracted.

Rabbit's eyes scan the bay, beady black orbs flicking back and forth, before he decides it is safe to step in. I notice two of the men are lugging huge black crates behind them. Even for their size, the boxes appear to be too heavy for them.

"Rabbit," I say coolly.

His eyes snap towards me, the sudden movement of his tiny head causing his black hair he had jelled to fall in his face. He addresses me a sour look on his face. "Captain Swan." There is pregnant pause and I wonder if his men's guns are loaded. "I see your ship is still a dump."

I hear a grunt behind me as Emmett elbows Rose in the ribs to keep her from snapping at him. Nobody insults Venom on Rose's time. It takes everything in my power not to send her warning look behind me.

Instead, I say, "Are you going to tell us what are delivering?"

A small smile dances across Rabbit's lips, revealing the tobacco stained teeth behind them.

"Eager, captain?" he teases, sauntering a few more steps in. His men follow diligently. I catch a glimpse of the calibration meter on the sides of their rifles. They are loaded.

"You should know I don't like agreeing to jobs that don't have a decent description," I counter, mirroring his steps. His men tense.

"And yet here you are…"

I filch. We need this money. He's right.

He takes my silence as me backing down and so he begins to pace the floor.

"I have something for valuable in here, Captain… Something, well, very _illegal_."

I snort. A five year-old could have guessed that.

"Do you know what this is, Captain?" he asks, gesturing to the huge black crates behind him. "This is moon ore."

The room falls silent. I don't believe him. _Moon ore. _They are the rock from moons that create impossibly sturdy foundations for anything they are used for. They can acts as metals when heated enough or ground into the finest powder to create unbreakable cement. It is the most expensive and rare material on the market. Almost everything at The Center is made out of it.

"I don't believe you," I manage to grit out, not allowing my disbelief to consume me.

His eyes brow shoot into his hairline in surprise, but nonetheless he turns to one of his men and snaps at the crates. The man scrambles towards the boxes, expertly climbing to the top before opening the crate. He reaches in and hoists up a piece of metallic looking rock into the air, which sparkles in the light.

"Where are we taking it?" I breathe out.

"Marth, which as you know, is a few galaxies away from here. Depending on how you get there, you may need to use a relay system. I have a very loyal buyer waiting there for the supply, but I'm not stupid enough to carry around two tons of undocumented moon ore across galaxies. But you are."

His black smile makes me feel sick with anger, but I hold my ground, remaining silence.

"Do we have a deal, Captain Swan?" he asks.

"We have a deal." I nod, holding out my hand.

His grimy hand shakes my own firmly, as more of warning than a thank you. He holds on for a beat longer, searching my blank face for something. A moment later, he seems satisfied and pulls away, gesturing for his men to move the crates in.

"Get them delivered by the end of the month, Swan," he calls, retreating out of the bay. "I would hate to have my most loyal operatives killed."

I can't bring myself to respond to him as his men follow him out after securing the load. There is potentially one million credits of moon ore sitting in my bay now, waiting to have me either be arrested or made rich.

Nobody moves from their spots in the bay, waiting for me to speak.

"We leave first thing in the morning," I say, stomping up the stairs, past Emmett and Rose. "I don't want to spend any more time on the ground then we have too with this much shit in the bay."

A collective "Yes, sir!" follows me out of the bay, back into the rooming hall. As I past Cullen's door, I hear grunting coming from behind it.

* * *

_Date: September 25__th__, 2607_

_Time: 08:03 _

_Location: Aboard Venom, Deep Space_

* * *

I let Emmett grab breakfast first. He gives me an odd look because he knows it's not like me to give a chance up to eat food as soon as possible, but I'm hoping he will take his time stuffing his face so when I head down to the kitchen, Cullen is gone.

Cullen makes me feel restless. Not in the same way Alice does, but in a more dangerous sense. Something about him is venomous. He is all smiles and hellos when I've seen him, but there is a certain thing about him that just isn't right. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I've heard his name before too. A long time ago…

"Cap'n, there's still bread and jam if ya'll want it," Emmett says from the doorway of the control room. There is still a cup of coffee in his hand as waltzs towards me, looking lazy and stuffed from breakfast.

I stand to greet him. "Thanks, Em. Don't spill that on the board, okay?" I call as I leave the room.

I'm not completely comfortable leaving the ship on autopilot until we officially hit deep space. We are still in an area where ships roam freely and I don't want to accidently run into one while on autopilot with two tons of moon ore below us.

The kitchen is still alive with chatter. I hear Jasper's voice, and then Cullen's, to which Rose promptly laughs at. Everyone seems to have taken an instant liking to our new mercenary. Even Alice is comfortable around him. It took me years to get Alice talking.

As I round the corner, I see Alice perched a top the counter with a class of juice in her hand. She is sipping it delicately, smiling shyly as Cullen talks to her. I can't exactly make out what he says to her over the dull roar of the engine, but it is enough to make everyone in the room laugh.

When I step in however, the laughter goes silent.

"What?" I say, putting my hands on my hip.

Rose and Jasper glance at each other, Alice studies her juice intently, and Edward looks back and forth between everyone, confused.

"You guys don't have to stop talking," I say, attempting to look apathetic. It makes no difference to me if they choose to spend their downtime making jokes.

I pick up a piece of bread, butter it, and sit down at the table.

Rose and Jasper share another look before Rose pipes up. "Do you have anything for us to do today, Captain?"

I pretend to mull her question over in my head. Rarely do I get to see Rose sweat, but when I do, I like to grovel in it for a few moments. "No," I finally say. "Lay low until we are out of range."

Rose nods and turns back to everyone at the table, effectively blocking me out of their conversation. I don't mind. Rarely does their table talk usually interest me and they know it.

"So, Bella – " I hear Edward say and before I can correct him that it's "Captain", Emmett's voice blasts over the intercom.

"Cap'n!"

I lean back in my chair, holding my hand up to Edward to signal we aren't done yet, and press the button on the intercom. "What, Emmett?"

"We are receiving a distress call!" He sounds excited.

"What? From who?" I ask. I can't think of any planets close to here that would have the technology to send a distress call.

"Zion."

I hear Jasper gasp behind me. Zion is one of the richest planets next to The Center and R'roku.

I take a shaky breath. "What does it say, Emmett?"

"I'll play it over the intercom," he answers. Silence ensues as the intercome shuts off momentarily, save for the clamor of the engine.

Then, static fills the space.

_"This Sargent Charlotte of Zion, requesting help from any, any ship at all, that can hear us. There is something here. We don't know what it is, something from a legend? We need help imme-" _

A few explosions sound off in the distance before the signal goes dead. I press the intercom button once more.

"Prepare the ship for landing, Emmett."

* * *

**A/N: Yo, thanks for your reviews. They are so delightful. Anyway, with 1 million credits worth of moon ore on her ship, what do you think Bella's reasoning for landing on Zion is? Do you think she really knows who Edward is? And more importantly, what was Edward doing behind his door? ;) **

_Venom: _The name of Bella's Fang Class ship.**  
**

_Fang Class: _An older type of cargo ship that is no longer made. It has head, where the pilot and copilot sit, a huge cargo bay area in the middle, and two engines on either side of its wings. Due to safety issues, many ports don't allow them to land.

_Moon ore: _A type of material found on very few moons across the explored sections of the Universe. A very expensive and very rare type of material.

_Credits: _A monetary value accepted on every planet.

**All your reviews are wonderful, thanks for leaving them! Until next time!**


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